IT was a decision he described as devastating and disappointing, but AFL Central West's Casey White also felt announcing the 2021 season was abandoned was a move which had to be made.
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Following on from Thursday's announcement that the COVID-19 lockdown of regional New South Wales would be extended until at least midnight on September 10, late Friday afternoon White met with club delegates to discuss the fate of season 2021.
The outcome was that the season would be abandoned and that there would be no premiers.
"I don't think it takes a rocket scientist to figure out where we were going over the last couple of days with making a decision, but it doesn't make it any easier, I'll guarantee you that," AFLCW competition and development co-ordinator White said.
"For us it was our 40th year of footy, the most competitive year of footy I think across a lot of grades we've had in recent memories.
The competition across all grades, senior and junior, had reached finals before the lockdown halted play.
Over the course of the past month the league had explored a number of options and time frames to get the preliminary finals then grand finals under their top-three system played, but the increasing number of positive COVID-19 cases in the Central West made those scenarios void.
White said that continuing to push back the season-end date in hopes lockdown would end was no longer a feasible option.
"At least one case had popped up in every one of our Central West AFL communities, Cowra excluded, that really put the pressure on our ability to complete the season," he said.
"But it's done now and it's not only probably a weight off my shoulders, but also the clubs.
"They don't have to keep their players engaged for potentially two-three more weeks and then be disappointed if we get another extension.
"Our junior sides would have had one day out of lockdown not having played for six or eight weeks and our senior sides would not have played in six weeks and had one week's preparation. That is what we were looking at with the time limits placed on us."
As well as opting to abandon the season, the decision was made not to award any premierships.
Minor premiers will still be acknowledged and individual awards such as the league best and fairest and leading goal kicker across the grades will be presented at a later date.
Again White acknowledged the difficulty of making such a call.
"It's devastating that we can't celebrate our 40 years with premierships, but that doesn't take away from the hard work our clubs, our players, our coaches and volunteers have put in this year to make the season what it is and celebrate the season the way we have," he said
"It's very disappointing to not be able to finish the season off and I know some people will be disappointed with the decision not to award premiers.
"But it is a consistent approach, so far across the state in other AFL competitions which haven't concluded they haven't awarded premiers and a vast majority of the Victorian competitions which were cancelled also didn't award premiers.
"We will without question acknowledge our minor premiers and celebrate our minor premiers ... that part of the decision wasn't made lightly and was something the clubs couldn't have feedback on because dependent on where a club finished, that was going to be their point of view."
The Bathurst Giants finished minor premiers in Tier 1 and the women's competitions while Parkes was Tier 2 minor premiers.
It is particularly disappointing for our Parkes Panthers given they were undefeated and well on track to secure back-to-back flags.
White said the league will continue to celebrate its 40th anniversary through social media and is working on how the 2021 individual award winners will be acknowledged. The Central West AFL joins the Central West Rugby Union and Western Premier League competitions in making the decision to abandon the remainder of their seasons.
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